Warhammer: Angron Training Manual

Chapter 313 Contract
The lava was as calm as dead water.

The entire world will no longer undergo earth-shattering changes due to the will of the great devil.

Sarum's battle axe had been lowered.

Qin Xia held up the operating device in his hand and faced the demon, which was still ferocious and terrifying even after calming down.

It's like an ant standing on a mound of earth facing a tiger a few meters away.

"You are unexpectedly calm." Qin Xia said, "You don't look like a servant of the Blood God at all."

"I am no one's servant, mortal." Salum stretched his neck forward and moved closer to a distance of ten meters from Qin Xia.

Every tooth on the demon's terrifying head was much bigger than Qin Xia's.

"Freedom and resistance always come at a price." Salum's fingers slowly dropped from the sky, and pointed at the device in Qin Xia's hand. "Don't be impulsive. We can talk. I can also pay a price."

Qin Xia silently judged the sincerity of Salum's two words.

Qin Xia had concluded before that Salum was related to concepts such as resistance, but this was not enough to make him determined to communicate with the big devil in front of him, because a rebel would compromise, endure temporarily, and wait for an opportunity to act.

Just like before the Nu people slowly slaughtered the high knights and guards, everyone surrendered obediently, and the gladiators performed honestly in the arena.

Is Salum's calmness at this moment a temporary dormant compromise or real calmness? Qin Xia will judge which of the two possibilities is more likely, and then judge whether Salum's words are as illusory as farts or he keeps his word.

This is easy to analyze, because demons are essentially not intelligent creatures with self-awareness, but rather warp entities whose actions and thoughts are controlled by concepts, emotions, or other things in the warp.

Whether this subspace entity has hypocritical qualities and whether it is lying can be determined by real creatures with true self-awareness.

Thinking about this, Qin Xia asked Salum knowing the truth: "Tell me your origin."

Salum was silent for a moment, as if he was organizing a lie, and then answered: "I was born when a mortal suddenly realized that he could create something to kill his own kind more efficiently, and set about doing it."

Qin Xia nodded. What Salum said was exactly the same as what he knew.

The origin of Salum is not rebellion, which means that Salum is not entirely related to the concept of rebellion, but a mixture of multiple concepts, of which rebellion is only a part, or even a very small part.

But Qin Xia thought this was the best way.

If Sarum was born not at the first time a mortal created a weapon to kill another mortal, but at the first time the real universe rebelled, then Sarum would be a rebel through and through.

It despises order, never tolerates slavery, and never compromises. I'm afraid that Salum would have traveled the real universe long ago to kill slaves wherever they were, and would not stay in this prison that it could leave but didn't.

So it is not strongly related to resistance, but rather a benefit.

This allowed Salum to stay calm, instead of carrying two axes around all day and chopping whoever he saw. The only difference between him and his peers was that the last two words after "for the Blood God" were changed to "resistance".

Qin Xia thought about this and thought about the development path of everything if Angron was nailed down.

Horus would rebel, Perturabo would join the rebels, and then come to Sarum on Horus' orders to find the lost Angron. Lorgar would also come, and the two Primarchs would run into Sarum himself and have a very calm conversation, eventually learning from Sarum where Angron was.

Because it originated from the birth of killing tools and is strongly related to killing tools, rather than resistance... This is also the confidence that Qin Xia can continue the conversation to this point.

Once you’ve determined which concepts Salum is related to, how strongly it’s related to those concepts, and that it actually does what it says, the next step is to make good use of these characteristics of Salum to achieve the best results.

"Don't you want to take a gamble on whether I can banish you back to the subspace?" Qin Xia glanced at the device in his hand.

"If I lose the bet, I will be sent back to the Blood God's Demon Realm in the High Heaven by that damn thing called the Vortex Bomb. I will be watched and punished by the Blood God, and even become his slave again." Salum said, "What will you lose if you lose the bet? A little psychic energy for teleportation and escape? This is not appropriate."

A calm analysis of the pros and cons.

Qin Xia was once again convinced that Salum was as calm as he knew he was.

Although he had been furious and wanted to kill people before, he has now calmed down. Compared with other Khorne demons, Salum is like an undercover agent placed by Tzeentch under Khorne.

"I can still see the bombs in that ship, and I can still see your steady heartbeat. I can't find any reason to gamble again." When Qin Xia fell silent, Salum continued, "If you think I'm no different from those people who hold two axes and open their mouths just for the Blood God, then you are wrong, mortal."

Qin Xia nodded slowly. After judging the demon in front of him, he went straight to the point: "Can you sense that I don't have a soul projection? This feature can bring benefits to me and to you, such as avoiding the thing you fear most - being enslaved by the Blood God."

The flames in Salum's pupils spewed and flickered, and he was obviously analyzing the creature in front of him.

Finally, the demon answered: "I can see that you know a lot of things, and you are indeed not affected by the power of destruction. But I don't think you want to do anything good for me, because you looked so aggressive when you came... If I am easy to deal with in your opinion, will you turn hostile immediately and use the most brutal means to restrain me?"

It was difficult for Qin Xia not to nod in agreement, after all, the other party had already seen through it.

"So, I think you just want to enslave me."

Salum spread his arms like mountains to both sides and spoke about his fears in a calm and unwavering voice.

"I would rather return to the High Heaven and be enslaved by the Blood God, because the Blood God is at least a destructive power, a dark god, and a true god. And you, you are just a freak without a soul projection, a unique ant. If my fate is to be enslaved, then I would rather choose the former."

"I am willing to pay the price to avoid being enslaved. I would even say I am willing to pay any price."

"But the problem is that you don't want to give me a chance to pay the price in exchange for my freedom. Instead, you want to use false freedom disguised as lies in exchange for my enslavement."

Salum's body gradually shrank.

As the last syllable jumped out from the psychic energy fluctuations transmitted from the demon to the surrounding area, Salum finally transformed from an extremely huge demon-shaped earth core into a new creature with a body size similar to that of a human.

A man who looks like he is made of lava and fire.

Its head was no longer as ferocious as other bloodthirsty demons, but became like a mask with flames. "Do you think I am no different from those of my kind? Then let me talk to you in a form that will allow you to realize the difference between me and my kind."

Salum continued.

"As I said before, I believe that everything you do is an attempt to enslave me."

"So, push the red button on your ridiculous little toy, mortal. Send me back to the demonic realm of the High Heavens, ant."

"Sooner or later, I will be freed from the Blood God's enslavement. By then, I will be fully prepared and use my real abilities to create countless war machines, so that ants like you who dare to covet me will not have the slightest chance of getting close to me."

Qin Xia listened to what Salum said, wondering whether he should just send Salum back to the Realm of Khorne.

As for sealing it in a book...

Salum is not the previous "Great Armor of Tzeentch" or "Lord of Change", nor is it a mass-produced product with no special features and eight to the eighth power and nine to the ninth power. Instead, it was born from the moment when mortals first wanted to make weapons to kill their own kind.

This kind of demon is often very powerful and difficult to control. Ten thousand years later, a demon like Salum would be summoned from a place with a solid structure of reality and face all the Grey Knights. Even if he couldn't shake the planet with a single move like he is now near the Maelstrom... the final result would be that the Grey Knights would pay a huge price to send it back to where it came from.

Qin Xia was not completely sure about sealing Salum, let alone sealing Salum near the whirlpool.

“I have two expectations for this conversation.”

After thinking it over again and again, Qin Xia spoke.

"First, I push the button and blast you back into the warp."

"Second, I use my characteristics to create a place where you can truly hide from the sight of the gods. However, this does not require you to be enslaved by me. Instead, it requires you to pay a price, such as doing something and keeping some promises."

"You don't look like the other bloodthirsty devils who know nothing but killing. Don't you understand what trade and cooperation are?"

"Also, your thinking is problematic. You made a subjective judgment before I finished speaking. This is the mistake you just made. Now that I have finished speaking, think about it carefully and give me an answer."

After saying that, Qin Xia waited quietly for Salum to understand what he said and give an answer.

"I choose not to accept your enslavement," Salum responded.

Qin Xia nodded, thinking that Salum was still a creature of the subspace after all, and could not understand what cooperation and trade were, just like Avida who insisted on his own opinion before. This was a cognitive conflict, and he had said everything that needed to be said, but it still could not be resolved. So, if that was the case...

"Goodbye." Qin Xia pressed the button.

The vortex bombs loaded into the torpedo compartment of the White Knight were launched and flew rapidly towards Salum.

The ancient military weapon unearthed on Nu would hurl Sarum and the Forge World of Sarum back into the Warp.

But before the vortex bomb arrived, Salum suddenly spoke again: "Wait a moment."

Qin Xia pressed the button, and the torpedo loaded with bombs stopped moving forward.

“If what you said is true and this is cooperation, then how can I be sure that you won’t do something bad to me?” Salum asked, “For example, if the place you created is a trap, and I enter it, I will be caught by you, and then tortured, and eventually forced to accept slavery…”

"Let's sign a contract." Qin Xia waved his hand, and a plane formed by white psychic energy appeared in front of him. "You are a creature of the subspace, and you know the restraining effect of contracts in the spiritual space. Of course, the premise is that both parties have real thoughts and purposes in the contract, not the kind of contract that the Lord of Change's lackeys use to deceive mortals."

"Then?" Salum looked at the white plane in front of Qin Xia, "What do you want from me? You said this is a deal, not slavery and submission... Let me guess, you want me to help you destroy the empire called the Brotherhood of Destruction? Then forget it, I can't kill here, otherwise it will attract the attention of the Blood God, and then I will still be enslaved."

When Salum was about to continue explaining how he couldn't attract attention, Qin Xia explained: "If I had to rely on a demon to destroy the Brotherhood with certainty, I wouldn't come here."

"Sarum, I wanted to use your characteristics from the moment I knew of your existence. Your characteristics are related to weapons... and your will to resist is just an unexpected accident in my plan."

“We all have traits that we want to exploit in each other, and these traits that we all need are unique to us and there are no substitutes.”

Qin Xia's right hand swept across the plane in front of him that was condensed by spiritual energy.

A contract appeared on the plane.

The plane flickered in front of Salum, and the demon sensed the contract.

It sensed that the contract was different from the one it knew. It was not the common link, but a psychic spell used to create a set of rules in the subspace that were based on constraints, and this constraint was undisguised, like a clearly written contract.

[Sarum will gain: freedom from being enslaved by any existence, and a secluded place where the gods cannot detect him.]

[The Contract Shaper will receive: the other party will provide assistance to the best of its ability, and a weapon to erase the body of the Primarch in the real universe.]

[If the contract maker enslaves the signatory directly or indirectly, he will be punished with destruction.]

[If the signatory violates the contract and only enjoys the benefits without paying, he will be punished by being unable to leave the Blood God Demon Realm forever.]

"Sarum is not my real name." The devil waved his hand to change the name in the contract.

The devil's extremely complex and lengthy true name filled the contract to the size of a planet.

Qin Xia raised his hand and pulled the contract back in front of him, then cashed the contract.

Then both sides felt a connection that existed in the subspace.

"I have to say, you are a unique demon. Calm, powerful, and you know exactly what you need." Qin Xia said slowly, "But you haven't fully analyzed all the benefits that the characteristic of not having soul projection brings to me."

"You may have played some tricks, Qin Xia." The flames on Salum's head jumped, "but you have promised in the contract not to enslave me and to provide me with a place to live. The rest is up to you."

(End of this chapter)